According to the website, searches for the more affordable home-buying option of Shared Ownership were up by 62.4% during the first four weeks of the year.
The firm suggests the recent surge in enquiries in Shared Ownership is owed to the recent promotion of the product. The Conservative Party recently pledged to reform the structure of Shared Ownership, making it easier for buyers to staircase in smaller amounts. Additionally, the National Housing Federation launched a campaign to substantially raise the profile of shared ownership just weeks ago.
Jimmy Acton, Director at Property Booking, says: “Shared Ownership has been around for years but it is only recently that we have seen the product gain momentum really come into its own. With more government backing and an evolving understanding of the product, it is clear that demand is on the rise. The affordable nature of shared ownership, combined with an increased desire to get on the property ladder, means that we can expect to see this interest continue.”
While nationally only around one in 100 homes are offered for sale via Shared Ownership, its popularity is increasing rapidly, especially in areas where property prices have massively outstripped income. In Cambridge, for example, 5.4% of homes are now listed for sale with Shared Ownership, and the product is increasingly popular in London, Plymouth, Birmingham and other hotspots.
Jimmy continues: “Owning your own home is still seen as an essential life goal for most Britons, so it’s not surprising to see such an affordable way of putting down roots becoming more popular. Shared Ownership not only offers much more security than just renting, but it also allows you to share the benefits of an asset that is increasing in value.
"Young people who are part of Generation Rent are often paying huge sums to landlords every month, and yet they struggle to get a mortgage because they aren’t able to save up a sufficient deposit. Shared Ownership is proving to be the key to unlocking this problem, allowing people to own their own home at their own pace while having the security of a controlled rent that usually works out much cheaper than they were paying on the open market.
“These figures show just how committed people are to the idea of becoming property owners, and how willing they are to sacrifice and save. Shared Ownership offers them the chance of having the key to their own front door considerably sooner, with the flexibility to increase the amount they own as their careers become more established.”
The popularity of Shared Ownership will continue to increase, believes Acton, as long as house prices continue to rise – and as prices in January 2020 were an average of 1.9% higher than in January 2019 and wages are still lower in real terms than they were a decade ago, buying a home is unlikely to get easier any time soon.
Jimmy concludes: “We are also expecting to see greater numbers of home-movers looking at shared ownership. At the moment, most Shared Ownership buyers are venturing into property for the first time, but it is also open to those who need to move to a larger or more suitable home but are unable to do so. With the current open-to-all Help to Buy scheme ending in April 2021 and the new scheme being open only to first-time buyers, we are expecting an increase in second-steppers looking at Shared Ownership as the cost of upsizing on the open market becomes out of reach.”
